Some embodiments described herein relate generally to multicast group functionality within a network, and more particularly to apparatuses for efficient management of multicast groups and distribution of data packets to members thereof.
Known network fabric systems often include one or more multicast groups each including one or more member devices. Many such multicast groups are configured using the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), and are configured to broadcast data packets to each member of the multicast group. Often, the process of defining and sending copies of a broadcast data packet to each member device included in a multicast group is performed at a single device within the network, resulting in a bottleneck at this replication/distribution point. Thus, a need exists for apparatus to distribute the replication and distribution tasks associated with multicast group broadcasts to multiple devices within a network fabric system.